Grisnik's Dark Elfs

[Grisnik]

So a mate of mine asked me if I could paint up his Dark Elf army for him. Thought, why not.. can't be that large of an army right?

Wrong.. but at least I am learning how to paint purple, am working on my metal technique, and my skin recipe has almost been perfected for TT+ quality.

His wants were simple. Dark, mostly purple, and to have some differences between the units, but in the end have them look coherent.

The army consists of ( so far, as he keeps adding to it while I am painting it ):
-60 Warriors
-26 Wyches
-37 Executioners
-40 Crossbows
-40 Corsairs
-20 Cold One Riders
-37 Black Guard
-17 Shades
-10 Harpies
-2 Hydras ( from Bane Beasts )
-Cauldron of Blood
-Random Heroes
-Hero on Monster
-Hero on Cold One

So just a few models to paint up. :roll:

Below are some photos of the models, plus the links to my blog that show more details such as what colors I used, and more photos where available also.

First Unit. Made as the test unit for the rest of the army's color scheme:

Dark Elf Warriors Blog Post

Second Unit done up. Real test on the metal scheme to be used on the elite units.

Dark Elf Executioners Blog Post

Third Unit: The biggest test on how to do skin for the army:

Dark Elf Wyches Blog Post
Close up of the Wyches


Couple of heroes/assassins ( not sure what he will use them as ):
Mordheim Aenur Elf
Mercenary Eiryss, Mage Hunter of LOS

Latest Unit has been:

Dark Elf Crossbows Part 1
Dark Elf Crossbows Part 2

Things in the pipeline now are the Harpies, and Black Guard. Should be coming up on the blog soon enough, but will also post some teasers here also.

[Student]

The purple looks good especially on the warriors banner. Good luck getting all of that painted.

[Grisnik]

@student.. thanks mate.. so far the motivation to keep on painting it all is still there as I have been working on this since just before December already.

Ok so a bit more of this army got started/finished.



Dark Elf Harpies Blog Post

More photos on the blog.

The original comments were to paint them in full skin tones.. since they are naked after all! But I really struggled with it as it just looks off.. spent a lot of time trying to make the membranes of the wings be a different shade than the skin itself, and give it a bit of contrast.

In the end, they will get updated to look more like the GW ones with black wings and legs, but wondering what other peoples thoughts on the coloring are?

Cheers

[grhino]

Looks lovely - well painted. that is quite the army indeed - best of luck on painting all of that. Just know that we're all eager to see the results, so get to it!

[Grisnik]

@grhino.. thanks mate.. am looking forward to getting more of this army done here also.

Quick update.. did a bit more work on the Harpies, and took advice from multiple sources plus referred back to the GW site to come up with this..



More photos available on my blog.
Dark Elf Harpies Round 2 Blog Post

I went over the wings and legs to make them black. From here, I did a light highlight with blue mixed in with the black. Doesn't come out as much as I had hoped, but its enough when looking at them to see that there is a difference in the coloring.

Next up for this army are the black guard models.

[Grisnik]

So on wards with the next unit.. this time Black Guard.. got them started, but still have 7 more models to complete.. the command and an odd one that I left out to help speed up my production line painting style..


Dark Elf Black Guard Blog Post
More photos on the blog itself.

I really like how the purple and skin tones came out on these guys.. though the metal in a few places are a bit thick, this is due to the original primer on some of the models, that I just couldn't get off prior to re-priming it.

[Roostmanuva]

Lovely army you have here.

You have managed to acheive really vibrant purples really makes the models "pop" as the cool dudes would say!

[Grisnik]

@Roostmanuva.. thanks for the comments.. and yes the purples really do make them "pop"! It was the direction we were going for and am glad that the effect is spot on.

Forgot to add this up here after posting it to my blog also..

Not the best model I have to say, but it does have some character to it. Wish it also had more details in the face, however that is the bane of some of the newer metals from smaller ( if you can call Mantic smaller ) companies these days I guess..



Dark Elf Mantic Twilight Kin Blog Post

As you can see, the model did not come out that great, mostly due to lack of features, and my inability to do freehand facial features. I tried to do it in the similar style as the Wyches, but just didn't have the same effect it seems.

I did use Bane's blood technique on the heart in hand. Been using this ever since that tutorial popped up on the warhammer.org forums.

Next unit is the Cold Ones.. and will be doing some work on them with the Airbrush also.. so should be fun.

[Grisnik]

So another week, and another unit (almost) finished.. am really putting my head down on these guys and getting through this backlog of units for this army painted up.

This time it is the mounts for the Cold One riders!!! Have to say that they were more fun to paint than I thought they might have been. Helped that the airbrush did quick work of the base coats on them for me. All 20 were done in around 1.5 hrs to lay down the greens and browns! Hot damn!

Will be posting about the Cold One Riders themselves soon enough.



Dark Elf Blog Post Cold Ones Part 1

[Grisnik]

And finally the riders are finished also..



Dark Elf Cold Ones with Riders Blog Post

Used my new airbrush to get the basecoat of silver on them, from there it was just picking out the bronze, and purples as normal. This went pretty quick overall. Next is the first of 2 Hydras and then the 17 Shades. Should be fun!

[Grisnik]

Ok.. so we are at it again.. this time into the Monster category.. and what monster is better than the mighty mighty Hydra!!! And what Hydra is better than the BaneBeast Hydra! Maelstrom's own creation.

Have to say that it was interesting to put together, not the easiest, not the worst. Also the details on it, although good, do not make it easy to paint up. Was still fun though, and I have another one on the go now. Dunno when it will be finished though.



Dark Elf BaneBeast Hydra Blog Post

Again used the airbrush on this to get the main colors.. but the darker section at the back was done after the fact as it was originally too bland. Next one will be starting much darker.

[Grisnik]

More of the Dark Elfs now..

This time around we have the Shades.. a good healthy 17 of them up and ready to kill Chaos Dwarf artillery before dying to Hobgoblins.. In the games we have played since getting most of the models painted, they have been MVPs except for the last game where they were being picked off by Hobgoblin Archers



Dark Elf Shades Blog Post

[Grisnik]

So next up is another character..

Dark Elf Assassin. Since it was a character model, I added some extra colors to it including the brown undercloths. Helped to make it stand out more on the table among the rest of the models.



Dark Elf Assassin Blog Post

[Grisnik]

More character models!!!!
This time the Dreadlord, that was picked up in a lot sale it seems. Was missing parts, so it was converted ( not by me ) to be holding a great weapon/halberd. I liked painting this model as it has a lot more details than many of the other models that I have done so far. It is also standing on a Eldar or High Elf helmet. So painted that up in the High Elf colors of his other army. Nothing like some friendly cross overs happening between armies that you own personally..

I still need to go back and paint the eyes.. I don't think he has eye sockets though, so will have to see what I can do here..



Dark Elf Dreadlord Blog Post

[Grisnik]

More pictures ready for viewing.. this time it is a converted Dark Pegasus with rider.

Taken from the bret pegasus, including the legs of the original rider, and the torso aspects of a Cold One Rider.

Was a lot of fun to paint up. Used the airbrush almost exclusively on this guy also. Was fun to try to get him done with minimal brush work, and only broke it out when needed. Also attempted some freehand cause the rest of the model went by so quickly, that I figured I had time to spare on it than I had originally thought.



Dark Elf Dark Pegasus Blog Post

[Grisnik]

Another Friday and another unit of the Dark Elfs finished up.. this time the Beastmaster on Manticore! Have to say that this is a nice looking miniature, even though it was an absolute beast to try to paint up due to its size and the manner in which it sits on the base.

Had to mount this on a tin of Army Painter so that I could get a good counterweight to it, and have a better place to hold it for painting purposes.

Glad to be done this guy, as it gets another large model out of the way..



Dark Elf Beastmaster on Manticore Blog Post

As always you can see more photos on my blog.. next up are the shades.. hopefully.. unless the batch of 50 of them drive me so insane that I need to do something else in the middle of them.. which is potentially the case..

[Student]

Nice job. Good luck painting all those shades. I hope they don't drive you too mad.

[Grisnik]

Thanks mate.. actually it seems I got the names wrong.. have a unit of 50 Corsairs.. and they are driving me nuts at the moment!!! So many fiddly bits.. so many different angles and colors needed.. not having fun with them at the moment.. but hopefully I can get them finished before the end of the week or weekend.

[defunct]

Very nice. Your friend is a lucky guy!
I especially like the purple, when I tried to achieve convincing looking dark purple I failed miserably.

The skin looks really good too, stands out really well on the wyches.

[Grisnik]

Last major unit for this army commission.. from here it is all bits and pieces that need to be finished. Not more than 30 more models..

This unit was a real ball buster though.. 50 Corsairs!!! Really had to dig into my inner work ethics to just stay on track with this unit and get them done, but they are, and my future games against them will curse me for it.

More pictures on my blog..



Dark Elf Corsairs Blog Post

Family is out of town now for the weekend, so it should be interesting to see how much more I can get done without distractions..